Safety catch



Nov. 26, 1929. MOREHOUSE 1,737,382

SAFETY CATCH Filed March 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR. 6/26 1 1600642 BY ATTORNEYS.

Nov. 26, 1929. E. VMOREHOUSE 1,737,382

SAFETY CATCH Filed March 26, 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. .Ziayezze/Vcwefiouyg,

A TTORNEYS.

Patented Nov. 26, 1929 EUGENE MOREHOUSE, or raovrnnnon, anonn ISLAND, ASSIGNOR. TO B. A. BALLOU &

00., 11m, 015 PROVIDENCE, anonn ISLAND, A CORPORATION or nnopn ISLAND SAFETY CATCH Application filed March 26, 1825. Serial No. 18,572.

This invention relates to an improved con struction of-safety catch for receiving and locking the pointed end of a pin-stem; and has for its object to provide a safety catch of this character in which the rotor or keeper is rotatably mounted in the body of the catch, the rotor being provided with a pair of widely-spaced arms so set as to facilitate moving of the rotor or keeper from open to closed position.

A further .object of this invention is the forming of the body portion of the catch of a single piece of metal having a pair of side ears connected through a relatively thin and narrow shank portion to and bent up from a common base portion, the ears being enlarged to provide bearings for the rotor trunnions and the shank portions being provided with integral stiffening ribs which are widely separated by the stretching of the stock of the base during a folding operation of the ears I upward therefrom, the ribs serving a double purpose that of stifiening the shank portions and providing an enlarged attaching area for the base. I

l/Vith these and other objects in view, the invention consists of certain novel features of construction, as will be more fully described, and particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is a side elevation partly in section illustrating my improved catch in section and in closed position to lock and house the pointed end of the pin-stem therein.

Figure 2 is an enlarged sectional elevation illustrating the rotor or keeper with its slot registering with that in the body.

Figure 3 shows the intersection of the trunnion along the wall of the slot in the rotor or keeper in position to just enter the trunnion bearing portion of the body and showing the operating arm of the rotor in position to force this intersection of hub portion and slot in a downwardly direction in its bearing.

Figure 4 illustrates the rotor in closed position with one of its arms engaging the base which serves as a stop.

Figure 5 is aside elevation of the rotor disengaged from its body.

Figure 6 is an-edge elevation of the rotor 7 showing its trunnion as elongated on one side thereo Figure 7 is an end view of the body portion showing the rotor in closed position and the which folding action .over this arbor serves to open up and stretch the base portion and separate the ribs to form an enlarged base area. c

Figure 11- is a central sectional elevation of the body portion in folded position.

Figure 12 is a top view of this body POT? tion. V

Figure 13 is a bottom view of the body portion showing the enlarged supporting area of the base formed by the ends of the ribs.

Figure 14 is an end view of the body portion showing the rotor mounted therein and in open position.

It is found in the practical construction and operation of safety catches of this character where the rotor is provided with laterally- .eXtending trunnions projecting into corresponding hearings in the body portion, that the point of 1ntersect1-on of the trunnion with the side wall of the opening, upon being rotated from open towards closed position, has a tendency after having become slightly worn, unless pressed downwardly, to engage the wall of the bearingat the point 27 and so prevent the rotor from being readily i moved to full closed position, in which case it is not completely closed and locked and the strain of the pin-stem upon it will serve to move it back to open position and the pin, sometimes a valuable diamond bar, is lost. To obviate this diflicul-ty, I have positioned one of the operating arms of this rotor so that a central radial line through it will be approximately on or forward of the vertical center line through the slot in the body of C viding an extended base portion, as best i the catch, so that pressure applied to this arm will force the trunnion downward and cause its intersecting point to readlly pass into its bearing which will then permit the either when the catch is completely open or when it is in complete closed position. I It is also foundin practice of advantage to pro-- vide the body portion with one of its pair of side ears of an extended thickness to receive and provide a bearing for the elongated trunnion on the rotor and also to provide a protecting housing for the point of the pin-stem and to connect both of these ears to the base portion of thebody by a relatively thin shank so as to reduce the amount, to theminimum, of the precious metal of which the body is usually made and to also form integral with these shankportions stiffening ribs, which ribs also serve to provide extending supporting base when stretched or spread into operating position by the method of folding up of the ear portions from the base by which operation. the spread or widely separating ribs enlarges the supporting area of the base of the body; and the following is a detailed description of the present embodiment of 7 my invention showing one construction by which these advantageous results may be accomplished. I

With reference to the drawings, 10 designates the body of the catch, which is swaged of metalusually of the precious metals, such as gold or silver and, therefore, is so designed as to be formed ofthe minimum amount of such material and still have the maximum strength for performingits important function of locking the pin-stem therein. a pair of ears 11 and 12 on its bodymember, the ear 12 being of considerably greater thickness than the car 11 and isprovided with a relatively deep bearing portion for the trunnion of the rotor, presently described. The ear 11 also has a bearing opening 14 of less depth than the bearing 13. On the back of this body member, I have formed a pair of thickened portions, protuberances or ribs 15 whereby when this body member is being bent up to form the base portion 16, as

illustrated in Figure 10, by being bent up over the anvil or former 17, shown in dotted lines, is causedto spread and so separate these rib members 15, one from the other, thus prolus- To accomplish this, I have swaged trated in Figure 13, in which the ribs are shown as providing an extended support for soldering or otherwise attaching this base to the back of the bar pin 9. When the body of the catch is bent up into position as illustrated in Figure 11, a space 18 is provided in which the rotor disc member 19 is mounted and this body is provided with an elongated, radially-disposed slot 20 through both of its ears, which is adapted to receive the pointed end of the pin-stem 21*, the elongated ear 12 serving a double purpose, first, that of providing an elongated bearing 13 for the trunnion and second, the slot 20 in this ear 12 is for housing the pointed end of the pin-stem so that this point will not project beyond the end of this car to catch in the fabric of the garment to which the same is attached. A groove is formed on the inner face of the blank to further reduce the stock of the body of the catch.

The rotor 19 is preferably in disc shape and is provided with'an elongated trunnion 21 to be inserted into the bearing 13 and a shorter trunnion 22 to be inserted into the bearing lt of thebody. This rotor is also from the central'line through the radial slot' and also is provided with a second arm 26 widely spaced from the arm 25 and set at a distance substantially 75? back from the arm 25, as indicated by are 6. These arms are so arranged that when the rotor is in open po- 'sition the arm 26 engages the base 16 ofthe body, which serves as a stop when the two radial slots register, and the arm 25 is caused to'engage the base on the opposite side, to form a stop when the rotor is in its complete closed position. In both these instances when the rotor is in eitherits wideopen or entirely closed position, neitherof the arms 25 or 26 extends above the top of the body portion so as to prevent these arms from engaging in the adjacent fabric of the wearer. One .of the essential features of the positioning of these arms on the rotor, is so that a downward pressure, as indicated by arrow A, will be exerted on the arm at the point 27 which is an intersection of the outer portion of the periphery of the trunnion with the wall 28 of the radial slot 20 in the rotor so that this downward pressure will cause this intersecting of the point 27 to be pressed inwardly and so readily pass beyond the opening of the slot 20 into the socket or bearing 13 in the body.

As has been found in practice if pressure were exerted on the arm 26 which stands at awide angle from the arm 25, this pressure would be in an upward direction-and if this trunnion were slightly worn this upward pressure would cause the edge 27 to engage the stock of the trunnion bearing so prevent the rotor from being rotated to its closed position and in this case the strain of the pinstem upon the rotor would cause it to move back into open position and so release the pin-stem and permit the valuable brooch to which it may be attached to become disconnected and lost.

Therefore to obviate this serious difficulty, applicant has so positioned the arm 25 that it is in a convenient position to be engaged by the thumb nail of the operator, upon moving the rotor from open to closed position, and, therefore a continued pressure upon this arm 25 will serve to cause the edge 27 of the trunnion to freely pass beyond the critical point into its bearing and thus prevent it from engagement with the wall thereof and permit its continued movement to closed position, in which case itis locked against inadvertently Popening against pressure which may be brought to bear upon it.

The foregoing description is directed solely towards the construction illustrated, but I desire it to be understood that I reserve the privilege of resorting to all the mechanical changes to which the device is susceptible, the invention being defined and limited only by the terms of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a safety catch, a body member having aradially disposed slot therein, a rotor having a trunnion on which it is rotatably mounted in said body, said rotor being slotted radially through to the center of its trunnion to register in one position with that in the body for the reception of a pinstem, a radially disposed operating arm extending from said rotor and located relatively to the closing edge wall of the slot in said rotor trunnion in such position that when this trunnion edge intersects the edge of the slot in the wall of the body slot in being rotated'from open towards closed position the central radial line through said arm will be approximately in line with that through the body slot.

2. In a safety catch, a body member having a radially disposed slot therein, a rotor having a trunnion on which it is rotatably mounted in said body, said rotor being slotted radially through to the center of its trunnion to register in one position with that in the body for the reception of a pin-stem, a radially disposed operating arm extending from said rotor and located relatively to the closing edge wall of the slotin said rotor trunnion in such position that when this trunnion edge intersects the edge of the slot in the wall of the body slot in being rotated from open towards closed position the central radial line through said arm will be approximately in line with that through the body slot, and a second radially-disposed operating arm in said rotor widely spaced from said first arm.

3. In a safety catch, a body member having a radially disposed slot therein, a rotor having a trunnion on which it is rotatably mounted in said body, said rotor being slotted ra-- dially through to the center of its trunnion to register in one position with that in the body, for the reception of a pin-stem, a radially disposed operating arm extending from said rotor and located relatively to the closing edge wall of the slot in said rotor trunnion in such position that when this trunnion edge intersects the edge of the slot in the wall of the body slot in being rotated from open towards closed position the central radial line through said arm will be forward of that through said body slot, and a second radiallydisposed operating arm on said rotor widely spaced from said first arm.

4:. In a safety catch, a rotor keeper member, a one-piece body member formed of a pair of ears connected through a relatively thin and narrow shanx portion to and bent up from a common base portion, said ears being enlarged to provide bearings for said rotor, and integral stiffening ribs on the shank portion widely separated by stretching of the base stock in folding up the ears, the bottom ends of said ribs providing an enlarged attaching area for the base of the body member.

5. In a safety catch, a rotor keeper member having bearing trunnions, a one-piece member formed of a pair of side ears, one of said ears having an extended thickness to provide an elongated trunnion bearing for-the rotor and also to provide a protectinghousing for the point of the pin-stem, said ears being connected to the base portion by a relatively thin shank portion and stiffening ribs formed integral with said shank portions positioned to provide an extended supporting base when spread into operative position by the folding up of the ear members from the. base of the body.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

EUGENE MOREHOU SE. 

